Canyons make for striking sights that those who see them are sure to remember. Their distinctive steep cliff borders paired with the deep valleys that run through them make for beautiful views that are amongst the world's best when it comes to natural formations.
There are a variety of popular canyons in the world, though few are as well recognized as the Grand Canyon located in the US state of Arizona , which covers a massive area of nearly square miles. This canyon is massive, it stretchs for about miles long, is up to 18 miles wide, and has a depth of over a mile at certain points. This word is fitting as it matches how canyons are often formed by the movement of running rivers going through them.
This water flow erodes and cuts deep into the river bed over many years to create the canyons that we recognize today. Canyons are also sometimes called gorges , though this term more accurately refers to smaller, narrower, and steeper valleys of similar appearance. There are several ways that canyons can be formed. Swift streams of water that run through rocks are the most common cause of the largest and most famous cliff valleys.
Typically this occurs in arid , meaning dry, or semiarid lands where rivers are fed by rain and melting snow transferred from wetter regions upstream. Canyons are more common in these dry areas because physical weathering typically has a more localized effect in arid areas. Canyon walls then form in their steep and angular way because compared to their centers they do not get as much of the frequent and large amounts of water flowing through and thus are not nearly as worn and softened.
Basically, the water pressure of the river digs deep into the surface below it, while simultaneously carrying away the sediments further downstream, to create the distinctive deep and narrow channels so characteristic of canyons.
The rock layers are worn away until they reach an elevation that matches that of the area where the water drains, meaning canyons typically crop up when the river's headwaters and estuary, meaning a partially enclosed body of water with access to the sea, are at significantly different heights allowing for the pressure to push the river bed down further and further.
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And its immense size has been seen by very few. More people have orbited the Earth than have hked the Grand Canyon from end to end. Other canyons start where a spring sprouts from the base of a cliff.
Such cliffs are composed of permeable, or porous, rock. Instead of flowing off the cliff, water seeps down into the rock until it hits an impermeable layer beneath and is forced to leak sideways. Where the water emerges, the cliff wall is weakened and eventually collapses. A box canyon forms as sections of wall collapse further and further back into the land.
The heads of these canyons are marked by cliffs on at least three sides. Slot canyons are narrow corridors sliced into eroding plateaus by periodic bursts of rushing water. Some measure less than a few feet across but drop several hundred feet to the floor.
Submarine canyons are similar to those on land in shape and form, but are cut by currents on the ocean floor. Many are the mere extension of a river canyon as it dumps into the ocean and flows across the continental shelf. Others are gouged from turbid currents that occasionally plunge to the ocean floor.
All rights reserved. Types of Canyons Other canyons start where a spring sprouts from the base of a cliff. Share Tweet Email. Why it's so hard to treat pain in infants. This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city Caracals have learned to hunt around the urban edges of Cape Town, though the predator faces many threats, such as getting hit by cars.
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